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Study shows academic dishonesty on the rise

DURHAM, N.C. - Facing mounting research proving that cheating at college is on the rise, university administrators nationwide are focusing more attention on issues of academic integrity.

This weekend, Duke University hosted the ninth annual conference of the Center for Academic Integrity, a Duke-based consortium of 200 colleges and universities that includes Stanford and Princeton universities and the University of North Carolina, among others.

Titled "Identifying and Mobilizing Resources for Academic Integrity," the three-day conference attracted more than 190 administrators, faculty and students from 75 different schools, conference coordinators said.

The current technology boom's strain on ethics was a central theme for much of the conference. "The speed of our society and the demands for more and more accelerations of speed are damaging to civility," said keynote speaker Gary Pavela, director of the University of Maryland's student conduct office.

Carleton College Associate Dean Elizabeth Ciner agreed, saying, "Speed is destructive to the ability to reflect. Students are busy, and it wouldn't surprise me if it resulted in taking shortcuts."

Compounding the problem of academic dishonesty are the many web-based resources designed to aid students in cheating. Kenneth Cust from the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics at Central Missouri State University said he has compiled a database of 11,000 Internet sites from which students can download term papers.

Internet plagiarism is especially enticing to students because "it's easy, fast and anonymous," said the University of San Diego's Lawrence Hinman, who demonstrated the ease with which he could create an essay by cutting and pasting text from Internet sites.

And more opportunities to cheat have translated into more cheating. Research by CAI founder Donald McCabe of Rutgers University shows that 75 percent of students admit to cheating at least once during their academic careers. Incoming CAI President Jeanne Wilson said most of the increase in cheating has come in the forms of plagiarism and unauthorized collaboration with peers, as opposed to cheating on tests.

Ciner said college administrators have been quick to counter this trend. Many colleges, including Duke, have turned to honor codes as a method of fostering academic integrity on campus.

Bruce Johnston, who helped to implement an honor code at Lyon College in Arkansas, said the code has helped decrease incidents of academic dishonesty. "You can feel the change in the atmosphere," he said. "The level of trust is just higher."

Discussions about honor codes tended to focus more on ethical education and less on simply reducing cheating. Quoting philosophers such as Aristotle and Immanuel Kant, many presenters said honor codes help to instill strong values in students. "[Administrators] are looking at revitalizing education," Wilson said. "It's not about cheating, it's about integrity. It's about working together-students and faculty-to make learning a vital process."

Not all participants had such grand visions of their honor codes, though. "I would like students to say, 'I get it! I see why cheating is subversive to my education,'" said the University of Montana's Deni Elliott. "But if they don't cheat because they're afraid they will get caught, I'll take it."

Presenters were largely silent about the recent criticisms about the racial implications of the University of Virginia's honor code. Earlier this year, Uva administrators found that a disproportionately high number of minority students have been turned in for honor code violations-suggesting that minority students are more likely to be turned in by their classmates.

But when pressed, McCabe said, "I don't think an honor code can be racist, but minority students are more visible on campus. It's just a shame."

St. Joseph's University student Mylik Ganey, who is black, strongly supports his honor system, although he acknowledged the presence of certain biases. "The biggest problem is, how do you deal with it?" he said.